Dick Blume/The Post-StandardBaldwinsville's Cristoval "Boo'' Nieves is the 27th-ranked North American skater heading into this weekend's NHL draft in Pittsburgh.

“Boo” Nieves came into this world eager to jump up on the rush.

He had no use for percolating in a hospital when there were goalies waiting to be toasted. About an hour after his mother, Joanne, went into labor, Boo was born and looking for a faceoff.

“He was a fast baby,” Joanne said. “Even as a baby, he had to be challenged all the time.”

Now 18 and a 6-foot-3, 195-pound locomotive, Nieves is hurtling from his home in Baldwinsville toward his next test in Pittsburgh. That’s where the NHL draft will be held Friday and Saturday.

The NHL scouting service has him ranked 27th among North American skaters, a slot that pegs him as a late first-round or early second-round pick. The report card on him is he could be the smoothest and fastest skater in the draft, and he has the playmaking ability to put a charge into his teammates.

Nieves, who played the last two seasons at Kent prep school in Connecticut, is committed to playing at the University of Michigan next year, but this weekend’s NHL meet and greet at least gives him an idea of where his speed can take him.

“I’m just more excited than anything,” Nieves said Monday. “It’s still kind of hitting me that I’m going to be drafted in the NHL.”

Nieves was born with the first name of Cristoval but no one calls him that. Joanne gave him the early nickname of “Bugaboo,” but it was soon shortened to “Boo” and Nieves has been scaring those who must catch him ever since.

At age 2, he buckled on a pair of rollerblades and steamed down an incline on his driveway. He deftly executed an advanced cross-over stride and jetted into the street.

A year later, Nieves went to skating lessons with his older brother, Alessandro. A coach gave Boo a small walker often used by first-time skaters. He handed the helper to another beginner and then glided off on his own, unassisted.

“There’s something special about those legs,” Joanne said. “I knew in my heart there’s something about the innate ability he has.”

Nieves unsuccessfully lobbied his parents to freeze their pool in the winter so he could use it as a backyard pond. Even on days he was too sick to attend school, he convinced Joanne to take him to Shove Park in Camillus for bonus skating work.

“Sometimes I don’t realize how fast I am until I’m put up against someone I have to beat,” Nieves said. “It takes someone to push me faster.”

Few could keep up with him during his days with the Syracuse Stars. In 2005, Nieves was named the top player of the Bell Tournament in Ottawa, a gathering of many of the best youth teams in North America. A year later, he won the same honor again.

“The one thing that continues to stick out about him is his unbelievable hockey sense,” said Steve Cibelli, who coached him in the Stars. “He found guys that were open. You said, ‘Ah, that’s not typically a 9-year-old play.’”

Rafael, Boo’s father, usually came home from tournaments and chronicled all of his son’s exploits on highlight DVDs. Years later, the magic holds up well. A quick review of some of the best on Monday showed Nieves’ dazzling skillset in its embryonic stages as he easily deceived defensemen and placed shots with the precision of a master billiards player.

“When I started playing for the Stars, I really noticed it,” Nieves said of his motor. “I could beat all these kids wide. I’d take it to the net.”

Still, Cibelli had to beg Nieves to shoot more, joking that he’d make the rest of the team skate extra in practice if he didn’t. Nieves carried that selflessness to prep school, producing 11 goals and 28 assists his first year and going 7-32 his second. The lack of finishing numbers weighs on the minus side of scouts’ evaluations.

“They said when I do shoot, it’s pretty good,” Nieves said of their feedback. “I used to have more goals than I did assists. It changed when I went to prep school. I felt like more of a playmaker. I felt I was a better passer than shooter.”

Nieves did the speed-dating routine at the NHL combine, talking with 16 teams in 20-minute windows. He said one — he can’t recall who — asked him whether he’d rather be an FBI agent, an architect or a salesman.

“I said FBI agent,” Nieves said. “I like to be proactive. They’re like, ‘You like to get shot at then?’ I’m like, I don’t know.”’

A survey queried which three people he’d like to invite to dinner. The response was self-explanatory for a teenage hockey player — Will Ferrell, Kim Kardashian and Zach Parise.

The value that NHL teams attach to these variables will become apparent Friday or Saturday when the draftees get sorted out. Nieves, for now, is taking it in stride. The same can’t be said for Joanne.

The whole family — which also includes two sisters — will pile into a van and drive toward Boo’s future. Joanne will remember the past, when the same group traveled so many winter miles to watch him play youth hockey.

As much ice as Boo has quickly covered since then, it’s hard to distance yourself from that nostalgia.

“I cry all the time. They said I was going to start crying on Tuesday up until Friday. That’s why I’m not putting my contacts in until I get there,” Joanne said. “It’s all come full circle now. When he’d come down the ice these last two seasons at Kent, that’s what I saw. That 6-year-old boy with his nose running.”